Athing Mu has been through a lot! Remember the upsetting visual from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials’ women’s 800m final when she fell during one of her laps? Although she got back up and finished the race, she wasn’t allowed to qualify for the Olympics. She appealed, but no luck. While this was on the professional front, Mu wasn’t doing well personally either. Four weeks before the Trials, she’d torn her hamstring. And as season 2024 ended in July with multiple worries for her, she couldn’t return to the track for a whole year. But when she has finally returned in July 2025, are things looking any better for her? Hardly…
After a whole year away from the track, when Athing Mu made a comeback at the Prefontaine Classic 2025, it ended in an upset for her. Quite ironically, this was the same track where she won her last 800m gold in 2023 and set an American record in 1:54:97. Ever since, to date, the athlete hasn’t experienced a single podium finish moment. And this year, at the same event, she finished in the 10th position. Clearly, there was a lot of rust in her performance….And it hasn’t cleared yet, as she has now suffered another concerning loss.
This Sunday, at the 2025 Ed Murphey Classic, Athing Mu ran the women’s 800m race and finished sixth in 2:00.42. While this time was enough for Mu to hold off the 2024 Ed Murphey silver medalist, Olivia Baker, and the reigning 800m US Indoor Champion, Nia Akins, it still made Mu look out of shape for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. After all, she has just run three low-profile overdistance races this season and now has had two 800m runs where she has faced upsetting losses.
Yes, Athing Mu did show marginal progress at the 2025 Ed Murphey Classic. She shaved off three seconds from the Prefontaine Classic time she ran last week. However, she still has a lot of work to do if she wants to upgrade that 2023 Budapest World bronze to a better medal this time. Because while she claims she is healthy, she looks far from the 2021-2023 form that she was in. That’s because both her World medals from 2022 and 2023 were won with her running times around the 1:56 threshold. But this year, while she celebrated a major personal milestone, she hasn’t even gone sub-2 minutes on the track yet, let alone nearing the 1:56 mark.
Good news/bad news for Athing Mu-Nikolayev in 800m #2 in Memphis
Good: Ran more aggressively than at Pre, ran 3 secs faster than at Pre, beat Akins + Rose
Bad: Still not in great shape, couldn’t respond to Maloney’s move, beaten by 4 Americanshttps://t.co/DDzk4cpxrx pic.twitter.com/9Qobj2lgUV
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) July 13, 2025
This led Jonathan Gault, the Let’s Run dotcom staff writer, to raise his eyebrows over the fact that Athing Mu is in a very crucial space right now. Should she improve a few seconds from here, she can make the World’s squad. Or if she doesn’t, she might end up missing the US championships final at large. After all, she will also have some really tough competition at the US nationals. And this is something she had herself agreed.
Athing Mu ready for tough US Nationals challenge?
At the Ed Murphey Classic, Athing Mu was held off by 4 American runners: A’jee Wilson, Rachel Gearing, McKenna Keegan, and Vernoica Hargrave. Although the gap between the fastest of these runners, A’jee Wilson and Mu, was less than a second, it’s still a wake-up call for the athlete if she wants to materialise her World Championship goals.
And Athing Mu herself agreed that the US Nationals is a big battle, but she is ready for it. After her Prefontaine loss, she said, “USA [Trials] is another challenge that we have to overcome, and I’m ready for it,” She even sounded optimistic that, “I’m definitely on the early side of my career, so still going through figuring things out.”
Furthermore, addressing her rust, Athing Mu said, “It’s a little unfortunate how this one went, but I’m just happy that I’m not crazy down about it. I know it’s been a while, and this is just what comes with coming back.” But do you think she can get back in that sub-2-minute form? There are just three weeks to go for the World’s now. Can Mu make things better in them? Let us know your predictions below!
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